Thom Hartmann: 'The myth of national victimhood...

[nostamj]

... all wrapped up for Christmas'

By Thom Hartmann, Common Dreams

It's Christmas week - Adolf Hitler's favorite season after he declared an official merger of church and state - and, ironically, conservatives are using the occasion to mount a new and bizarre attack.

They said liberals are out to destroy Christmas. Cobbling together a few anecdotes (unsupportable attacks are always anecdote-based), they managed to imply a vast anti-Christian conspiracy bubbling just under the belly of America, and pushed that frightening implication into the minds of millions of Americans just in time for the holiday season.

Conservatives must constantly attack others (and focus on "morality") to keep hidden their own true agenda, which is no less than a return to the world of Scrooge & Marley, Inc. They're working to bring about a return to Robber Baron feudalism, with a stable, rich, and powerful ruling class, and an impoverished, frightened, and politically impotent working class.
But for conservatives to keep the loyalty of the working-class victims of their policies (which are shipping American jobs overseas, while fighting unions and minimum-wage increases here), they must convince people that there is a "them" out there - liberals in this case - who are out to destroy America's moral fiber and are thus responsible for working-class misery.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=19186

[zbdent]

1. You know what? Capitalism killed Christmas, not liberalism

First thing, the second half of the 20th century, it was all about "BUY BUY BUY!".

As the century closed, you would see Christmas stuff edging earlier and earlier into the year. Initially, it started "the day after Thanksgiving". It's crept up to about (at least) two weeks before Halloween. And don't get me started on the "Christmas in July!" sales.

Businesses, not wanting to miss out on a buck, decided that they didn't want to miss out on the money on other religions that don't have specific days, so they embraced "Happy Holidays"! I would bet it's more the lawyers for big companies that were more skittish about "Christmas" than the numbers of complaints the ACLU registered.